The Pxl Lab is a blog dedicated to writing about the great games, software, and the stuff you can do with them.
Posts tagged play
Left 4 Dead PC System Requirements
83 years ago
by Pxl_Buzzard
in Gaming
Left 4 Dead, Valve’s next big game, is coming on November 18 with the demo infecting players on sometime before the release. HalfLife2.net got ahold of the system requirements from Doug Lombardi, the Valve marketing man.
- OS: Windows Vista, XP or 2000
- CPU: 3.0 GHz P4, Dual Core 2.0 or AMD64X2 (or higher)
- RAM: 1 GB for XP / 2GB for Vista
- Disc drive: DVD-ROM Drive
- Hard drive: At least 7.5 GB of free space
- Video: Direct X 9 compatible video card (Video card must be 256 MB or more and should be a DirectX 9-compatible with support for pixel shader 2.0)
- Sound: Direct X9.0c compatible sound card
The only potential worry is the need for a 256 MB video card, as many people still run games with a 128 MB card, although you really should have upgraded to something better by now.
Welcome to Team Fortress 2 Week!
03 years ago
by Pxl_Buzzard
in Gaming
Hey readers! Here at The Pxl Lab, we all share a love for Team Fortress 2, which in case you don’t know, is a totally awesome online multiplayer FPS created by Valve, the greatest developer of all time. Now that we have our facts straight, it’s time to get in-depth with the game. All week long we’ll feature awesome game sprays for you to use, videos that will blow your mind, an interview with the Gib$Ru$ admin, a detailed guide on how to tweak TF2 for better performance, skinning the characters, and more! Keep checking the site all week long for the latest and greatest, and we hope to see you on the battlefield soon, soldier!
Desktop Tower Defense – The Best TD Game on the Web
03 years ago
I discovered this little game while surfing the net today. Desktop Tower Defense is a flash game where you have to protect your desktop from invaders by spending money on attack turrets and building a maze for the invaders to go through. It’s strangely addictive and before you know it you just want to play more and more. I really enjoyed seeing other people’s mazes and how many points they scored with it. You can play the game on Kongregate with achievements, or just play it on the creators’ website, HandDrawnGames.com. Check out the videos below for some awesome in-game action.
Get the Flash Player to see this content.
Get the Flash Player to see this content.
Bubble Tanks 2 – Message in a Bubble
03 years ago
Bubble Tanks 2, sequel to the excellent Bubble Tanks, is an incredibly creative shooter. As the name implies, you play as a Bubble Tank in a bubble world flying around shooting other bubbles so as to absorb their bubbles to make your own bubble bigger and better. The game has a lot of bubbles, to say the least, as well as many improvements over the original Bubble Tanks, and is easily one of the best Flash-based games this year.
In Bubble Tanks 2, the tutorial has literally not changed at all from the original. This is quite a blessing, actually. Bubble Tanks and Bubble Tanks 2′s tutorials consist of writing on the background of the first couple bubbles. That’s it. Also the core gameplay is virtually unchanged. You still move from bubble to bubble using W-A-S-D and aim and shoot using the mouse. BT2 also adds an entertaining “Arena Mode” in addition to normal mode. In Arena Mode, you can choose to do battle against any of the bubbly foes you have previously encountered, as well as start your bubble off at any stage you unlocked in normal mode. This brings me to my next point. Players of the original Bubble Tanks probably noticed that there are literally no customization options. Now in BT2, as your tank “levels” up, you can choose which specialization you want. You can go as an agile Fighter Tank, a slow powerful Heavy Tank, or a nice balanced Balance Tank. It adds a nice level of customization to the game, in addition to adding a lot to the replay value. There’s also a new Secondary Weapon feature, which affects your overall strategy in the game. If you’re playing as a balance tank, for instance, shields are useful for fighting bigger enemies so you can block their attacks. Though there are also plenty of useless secondary weapons as well, such as mines. No enemy ever ran over any of the mines I ever laid down, ever.
Overall, Bubble Tanks 2 is a huge improvement over the original Bubble Tanks, which is saying alot because Bubble Tanks is one of my all time favorite flash games. The only real problems I have with the game are the lack of balance between the classes, with many profoundly useless classes such as Sniper, as well as absolutely no carried over traits when you upgrade your tank. The customization really ends with which tank you pick. Also, it ocassionally has lag spikes when there are a bunch of enemies on screen. Overall, however, I’d say this game is an excellent way to spend a little time while in the interwebs.
The Worst Game Ever Sold In Stores
23 years ago
Some games were just never meant to be. Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing is one such game. Here is a quote from the game box:
You are able to race your modified Rig on one of 5 different tracks for the ultimate driving rush as you crush the competition and set a new track record!
The lack of tracks and features that this sentence (and game) is lacking is only made incredibly worse by running the game on the worst engine ever designed by man. Collision detection and realistic gravity are some of the things that never had the time to make it into the game. Here is a gameplay video, and be warned: It’s hilarious.
Get the Flash Player to see this content.
According to Metacritic, a website that collects reviews from multiple sources and adds their collective score together, Big Rigs is the worst rated game of time, scoring an 8 out of 100. The only reason you’ll even want to look into this game is for some of the funniest videos you’ll ever see on Youtube.
Crysis Mapping Contest Winners Announced
03 years ago
by Pxl_Buzzard
in Gaming
Crytek and Intel started a mapping contest, hosted by Crymod, in January 2008, and all the Crysis mappers attempted to create some special maps. The categories of maps to be made were:
- Intel® Performance and Visibility
- Fun and gameplay
- Creativity
- Best Cutscene
The best maps in each category were announced today, and here are the winners: (You can click on a picture to enlarge it and see the names of the winners.)
Intel® Performance and Visibility
Fun and gameplay
![[HP]'s Vulcano](http://pxlbuzzard.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/1p2.jpg "1st Place Winner - [HP]'s Vulcano")
Creativity
Best Cutscene
The winners will all receive a Crysis-branded T-Shirt and Lanyard, not including all of the great prizes they earned for scoring in 1st, 2nd, or 3rd. Crymod will be hosting more contests like this in the future, and you can stay updated on them here at The Pxl Lab.
Hell of Sand – A Good Time-Wasting Flash Game
134 years ago
Hell of Sand is a flash game located at Andy’s Life. Though Andy’s Life should not be your one stop for flash games, I would highly recommend that you check out Hell of Sand. Actually, the game has almost no point other than to have fun and waste time. You set the rules, you set the conditions, and you have more fun. You can create pictures, and do things such as creating large explosions and seeing which kinds of substances explode, or melt, or do other things in relations to the plant, the fire, and the water. Everything is shaped to be like sand, but most substances follow realistic patterns, such as gunpowder exploding and plants flourishing under water.
If you are one of those people who have to have some kind of goal to meet, then this is not the game for you, but if all you want to do is make something that you can enjoy for a while and then delete, or you just need to blow 10 minutes and don’t want to get too deeply involved in a good flash game, play Hell of Sand. If you need to meet some kind of requirements, then go play something else like The Last Stand 2, otherwise Hell of Sand is your game.
Zombie Arena Is Yet Another Zombie Shooter
04 years ago
Today I decided to step away from energy drinks, and review a good ol’ fashioned zombie slaughtering flash game, just like grandma used to make. Anyways, I popped open Mozilla, and went straight to my second favorite source of flash games, Addicting Games. I looked at their front page and noticed Zombie Arena. That’s where the loathing began.
As a zombie hunting enthusiast, it was my duty to try this game out. First off, I wish to say that the name was very misleading. I assumed that I would be in control of a character in some sort of arena, but that dream was crushed as the player is in the middle of a forest. I decided to overlook this, and proceed with the game. You start off with the only weapon you’ll need, the Shotgun. For my first 300 kills, I used nothing but the shotgun. As the game proceeded, the difficulty barely wavered. In fact, the only time I got close being challenged, I unlocked the Minigun, which allowed me to singlehandedly stave off the entire zombie invasion without moving. Of course, the major fault with the Minigun is that it has no splash damage. Only the zombie who you’re pointing the gun directly at takes any damage. Now, moving more into game play, Zombie Arena is painfully easy. I lasted 11 minutes no sweat, and only died because I left my keyboard. The AI is also incredibly stupid. Even for a flash game, the zombies were getting stuck behind trees, making them easy targets for my ill-gotten shotgun.
All in all, I would say avoid this game. You get a far better zombie shoot-em-up in Endless Zombie Rampage or The Last Stand 2. Go play one of those instead.
The New Writer on the Block
04 years ago
by Thomas
in Randomness
My name is Thomas, (aka Cigil), and I have recently started writing for this wonderful blog. I have known Pxl_Buzzard for a while, and it’s been my pleasure to be a blogger with him. Most of my experience in the Internet world has been forum related, where for five years I have been involved in many different forums of entertainment, which have only contributed to furthering my interest in the technicalities of programs and games. I have a large background in video games, mostly MMORPG’s such as World of Warcraft and Runescape. However, even as my time is limited due to sports (football), I hope to become an active writer of this blog, using my knowledge that I have obtained in the last few years of trial and error, only now to bring you the best of Thomas.
The Last Stand 2 Brings Out the Best of Shooting Zombies
84 years ago
At first glance, The Last Stand 2, created by ConArtists, may just look like another zombie survival horror flash game. As soon as you start playing, you see that that’s not the case. The Last Stand 1 set the precedent by having players survive 20 nights shooting off zombies that rush your half-built fort, and by day searching for survivors, guns, or repairing the fort for the next night. The Last Stand 2 takes it up a notch by giving the player 40 nights to travel from their starting town to Union City, which is the last safe place left. The player can choose different routes to get to Union City, giving the game replay value. I’ve played through the game 3 times now and never taken the same path, and I’ve always had a different selection of weaponry. TLS2 also cranks it up a notch during the night battles by letting players place bear traps and explosives around the perimeter. For those of you that think that TLS2 is just too difficult, though, let me recommend playing TLS2 with cheats.
I would say that The Last Stand 2 is the best flash game I’ve played since Line Rider, which is saying something because I played Line Rider like no other back in its glory days. TLS2 has the perfect blend of shooting, strategy, and blood that makes you want to keep playing it over and over.